Chapter 30 · Chapter 30

The silence Abu Mansoor left behind was hollow, but it did not last long. The heavy carved doors of the inner majlis did not remain sealed when an inheritance of this magnitude hung in the balance. Beyond the threshold, the low murmur of elders, family legal stewards, and my uncle’s envoys gathered like a rising tide against stone.

Nayef did not move from where he stood near the high arched window. His white thobe fell in sharp, immaculate lines, untouched by the tension that had frayed every other nerve in the estate. In his right hand, the amber beads of his masbaha clicked once, a measured, solitary sound that seemed to dictate the rhythm of the room.

"You sent the ledger back with him," he said, his voice level, devoid of surprise or reproach.

"I do not bargain for what is already mine," I replied, drawing the folds of my black abaya and shaila closer over my shoulders, my chin held high. "If your house expects me to sign away my father’s commercial holdings to purchase peace, you have misjudged me, Nayef."

A faint, razor-thin tilt touched the corner of his mouth.